Certain conventional data storage systems use the Common Information Model (CIM) to represent elements of a data storage system (e.g., disks, LUNs, RAID groups, subsystems, etc.). These data storage systems are managed remotely by a conventional client application running on a conventional client system across a network. In order for a conventional client to obtain search results, conventional clients issue a request for all CIM objects maintained by the data storage system of a particular type, and after all such objects are returned to the conventional client, the conventional client performs a local search in order to cull the undesired objects.
In an improved conventional system, the CIM Query Language (CQL) is used by the improved conventional client in order to send a search query to the data storage system. In such systems, instead of returning to the client a set of CIM objects corresponding to the search results, the data storage system sends a table containing data about the desired elements to the improved conventional client.